European Parliament approves single EU patent after decades

The European Parliament approves a new single EU patent on Tuesday, decades after the first moves were made to streamline the system in a bid to cut costs for businesses.

11.12.2012

(AFP) The European Parliament approves a new single EU patent on Tuesday, decades after the first moves were made to streamline the system in a bid to cut costs for businesses.

The patent plan was passed after ministers from 25 of the 27 European Union states gave their blessing and the top legal officer of the European Court of Justice recommended dismissal of objections from Spain and Italy.

Earlier in Luxembourg, the ECJ's Advocate General, Yves Both, whose opinion the court normally follows, said it "should reject all the pleas put forward by Spain and Italy and, consequently, dismiss both actions."

Spain and Italy had challenged the right of their EU partners to go ahead under an "enhanced cooperation" procedure in the EU's highest court.

They objected that their rights would suffer because the new patents would be in three languages only -- English, French and German.

Both said the EU did have the authority to adopt the enhanced cooperation procedure and in this case, had exercised this power properly.

A single patent system would also not disadvantage some member states, as argued, he said, adding that the language provisions alone did not determine the validity of the enhanced cooperation procedure.

The new single patent system is intended to provide a simpler, cheaper and more effective system to manage 60,000 patent applications a year across the 27-member EU.

It should be in place by 2014, with the cost of filing patent applications falling progressively from around 30,000 euros to 5,000 euros, the EU executive says.